The Return of Jerry Nadler

For two months, Representative Jerry Nadler has been the Maytag repairman of the House impeachment inquiry: idled and isolated as his colleague Adam Schiff has presided over a parade of witnesses in public and private hearings before the Intelligence Committee.

But now, as the focus of impeachment shifts to the Judiciary Committee that he chairs, Nadler, a scrappy Democratic veteran of New York’s and Washington’s political wars, will be back in the spin cycle and up to his elbows in hot water. He will find himself tested—not only by comparisons with Schiff, whose performance Democrats have praised, but also by his own committee, which is far more fractious and unruly than the California Democrat’s.

Andrew Kirtzman, a seasoned New York journalist turned political and communications consultant who has watched Nadler for years, sums up his situation: “Schiff did such a remarkable job running those hearings with military precision. But Schiff didn’t have to balance having Republicans be able to present their own witnesses. It’s going to be much more of a brawl in the Judiciary